Words fail to describe that mysterious sense of loss, driving home from work to hear someone say on KPFA that Leonard Cohen “passed away earlier this evening”. The world has lost a voice of tender humanity and brutal honesty. Leonard Cohen, the poet and singer-songwriter, leaves us prophetic and profound music, writing, and artwork. For the ’90s generation, it was Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who also painted, who introduced most of us to Leonard Cohen by citing him in Nirvana‘s ultimate album, In Utero (1993). Then, Trent Reznor included Leonard Cohen in his curated soundtrack for Oliver Stone‘s Natural Born Killers (1994). After hearing “The Future” and “Waiting For The Miracle“, invoking Kurt’s lyrics about sighing eternally, we wanted to hear more from Leonard Cohen. New generations would discover, experience, enjoy, and learn from Leonard Cohen’s impressive treasure trove of artistic, musical, and literary work. Indeed, Leonard Cohen’s influence continues to be felt today, as many people continue to sing his songs.

Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, which was a major hit in Canada and Europe. His eleventh album, Dear Heather, followed in 2004. After a successful string of tours between 2008 and 2010, Cohen released three albums in the final four years of his life: Old Ideas (2012), Popular Problems (2014) and You Want It Darker (2016), the last of which was released three weeks before his death.

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[3] Judy Collins and Leonard Cohen were videotaped (to Beta-HiFi) performing the folk song “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodby” in Chicago, January 1976, for the PBS TV programme Soundstage.